Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=2/22/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/MISSILES (L-O)

NUMBER=2-299928

BYLINE=TETIANA ANDERSON

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Iraq has yet to directly respond the U-N chief weapons inspector Hans Blix's demand that it destroy banned Al-Samoud-two missiles. Tetiana Anderson reports from V-O-A's Middle East Bureau in Cairo.

TEXT: Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said all pending issues can be solved between Iraq and the United Nations without pressure from what he called certain parties. Mr. Sabri was speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Malaysia.

On Friday, Mr. Blix sent a letter to Iraqi officials ordering the destruction of the missiles to commence by March 1st. U-N inspectors have found that that Al-Samoud-two missiles exceed the 150-kilometer range restrictions imposed by U-N resolutions implemented after the Gulf War. Iraq says the missiles were tested without the weight of warheads, and therefore went the extra distance.

Mr. Blix is scheduled to give his next report to the United Nations Security Council on March first.

U-N inspectors in Baghdad Saturday searched the facility responsible for production of the missiles. Biological and nuclear weapons teams also visited sites outside Baghdad and near Mosul in the north of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iraq's vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan offered Friday evening to engage in dialogue with the United States, if Washington pledged to, in his words, "abandon aggression" against the country.

U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell said that if Iraq cooperates with all U-N demands, or if the country's President Saddam Hussein chooses to leave the country, there would be no war. (signed)

NEB/TA/DW/TW